Blue Sky’s ‘Epic’ Getting Positive Early Reviews

The Hollywood trades have weighed in on Blue Sky’s new 3-D CG-animated feature Epic and the reviews are mostly positive. The fantasy adventure film, which is directed by Blue Sky co-founder Chris Wedge (Ice Age, Robots) is set in a hidden land deep in the forest where the battle between the forces of good and evil continues under our noses. The voice cast includes Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Colin Farrell, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Blake Anderson, Judah Friedlander and Beyoncé Knowles. The lushly animated pic will open on 3D this Friday (May 24).

Here is a sampling of what early critics are saying about Blue Sky’s eighth animated feature film:

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter writes…

“While it might not amount to epic animated filmmaking in terms of scope and invention, Epic nevertheless makes for pleasantly engaging viewing…Occupying the director’s chair for the first time since 2005’s Robots, Chris Wedge keeps the pace brisk and involving, especially during those lively battle sequences…Where the animated film comes up short is on the inspiration front—despite the intriguing terrain, its stock inhabitants lack the sort of unique personality traits that would prevent them from feeling overly familiar.”

In his review in Variety, Andrew Barker opines…

“Epic is a reasonably entertaining, adeptly crafted kidpic whose biggest crime is its near pathological reliance on overfamiliar tropes and trappings. But that shouldn’t bother family crowds, who will likely line up in large numbers and leave satisfied, if hardly awed… Almost everything that conventional wisdom would suggest a successful multi-quadrant family pic ought to contain is present here in some capacity, from the overstocked celebrity voice cast to 3D bells and whistles, a gently apolitical eco-friendly message, an offscreen parent death and some Timon-and-Pumba style sidekicks. The film also hews to a premise — tiny people living a clandestine existence under the noses of full-sized humans — that has been similarly employed by The Secret World of Arrietty, Arthur and the Invisibles and The Borrowers over the past several years….But if this is all familiar territory even to film-literate young children, it’s nonetheless executed with professionalism and a few dashes of panache.”

“Animation quality is generally quite high, with fur and water excellently rendered, though Wedge has a tendency to stage certain showpiece sequences with the camera pointed directly into a shaft of sunlight, enveloping everything in a fulgent sheen that looks particularly distracting through 3D glasses. Yet on the whole, this is a fully realized world, providing a more ecologically accurate view of the forest than one usually sees on film, full of just as many mold-spores and wriggling things as fauns and flowers.”

Anna Smith of Empire Magazine wraps it up best…

“While it’s not a crossover classic, [Epic] has enough wit and charm to entertain both big and little people.”

Seems to me these are pretty important weaknesses… but hey, it’s for the kiddies!:

“…Where the animated film comes up short is on the inspiration
front—despite the intriguing terrain, its stock inhabitants lack the
sort of unique personality traits that would prevent them from feeling
overly familiar.”

“…kidpic whose biggest crime is its near pathological reliance on overfamiliar tropes and trappings.”